


Hourglass

by NovaBlue142



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Depression, Grief/Mourning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-20
Updated: 2014-12-20
Packaged: 2018-03-02 12:55:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2812766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NovaBlue142/pseuds/NovaBlue142
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Little tweaks to the plot of Big Hero 6... an AU where Hiro never said the one word that would have changed his life. Just a quick little fic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hourglass

_People keep saying Tadashi’s not really gone, as long as we remember him..._

Hiro sits at his desk, staring blankly at his computer screen. It’s late in the afternoon, and the setting sun bathes his room a red-orange hue. On the screen is a picture.

It’s the selfie that he, Honey, GoGo, Wasabi, Fred, and… and _Tadashi_ took before he went to make his presentation. Below it is a message that reads,

_Hey Hiro!_  
 _Hope you’re doing well. We all miss you! It’s really quiet without you around. I hope you’ll be coming to SFIT soon, so we can all give you a snuggly wuggly hug! If not, then we’ll just have to visit you at Lucky Cat Cafe~ See you soon!!!_  
 _Warm wishes,  
Honey Lemon_

Hiro was never one to cry. He hadn’t cried since he was very little. Every time he got beat up by pissed bot fighters or had someone call him names, he got stronger and stronger. 

But not this time.

Hiro manages to stare at it for a few seconds longer before he has to avert his gaze and shut the computer off. His heart is aching too much to look at it any more. Honey is a sweet girl (she lived up to her name), and he knows that she’s just trying to cheer him up, but he can’t understand how they can just go on as if nothing ever happened. 

His gaze drifts over his black, spiky robot. Its yellow, smiling face seems to taunt him now. Hiro grits his teeth and throws the robot into his trash can. It makes a loud _thunk_ before it settles on top of the letter from SFIT. If he were his old self, he would have immediately regretted doing such a thing. He would have retrieved both the letter and the robot and he would reconsider going to college. 

But not this time.

He knows that Aunt Cass and all his friends will keep coming to him. They’ll keep insisting that he should eat, that he should go to college, that he should go outside. They’ll see his broken smile and return it. Most of all, they’ll insist that he’ll recover.

But not this time. 

The empty bed on the other side of the room was collecting dust. Hiro wouldn’t let Aunt Cass touch it. Aunt Cass would argue as gently as she could that there was really no point in having the bed take up what little space Hiro had in that room. She eventually agreed to leave it where it was out of love for the grief-stricken boy, and never asked about it again. Hiro hoped against hope that if he just blinked, Tadashi would be right back there on that bed, studying or reading, like he used to. He would always come back home at this hour, after school was done. 

But not this time.

**Author's Note:**

> Title based off of 'Immortals' by Fall Out Boy, part of the soundtrack for BH6.  
> ... And if you haven't figured it out yet, the one word that would have changed Hiro's life, had he only said it?  
> "Ow."


End file.
